Can posting on a SEO forum hurt you?

[master-displays]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I read a blog post that said having your link (i.e. in a signature) on an SEO forum (or maybe even this one ) could hurt you in the eyes of the mighty google. Does anyone think there's anything to this???

[lisa]

I've never heard this but I know why people may believe this. People go to SEO forums to learn about SEO and the first thing many forums will tell you is to use a signature to help boost your # of backlinks. Well some people go crazy when they hear about this and they go to forums (especially SEO forums) and create keyword rich signatures to try and boost their rankings and PageRank.

I've been to some of the popular SEO forums in the past and some of the signatures are out of this world. For example, if someone's site is about sugar cookies, the signature may look like this...

sugar cookies sugar cookies and more sugar cookies. Get the best sugar cookies in the world at this sugar cookie site.

You may not get penalized, but these links may just be ignored when it comes to calculating your backlinks and determining your PR.

[kennethb]

i believe that using your signature to your site is not bad at all as long as you are giving the information correctly. If you have a site that is about games and the link is about porn magazines then that is not correct. You should also avoid spamming. If you join to a forum community you must join for a good purpose, share your site, share your knowledge, get help from moderators and get help from other members.

[stephen186]

I think use of signatures is not wrong way to build backlinks as long as you are not spamming and also don't just put a bunch of signatures......instead use two to three at the most......

[master-displays]

hey Lisa,
You're making me hungry! Where can I get these sugar cookies???
I think the blog post I read wasn't about leaving a "spammy" signature but was just about being involved in SEO. It's the thing about natural vs "artificial" links, and if you are on a seo forum, your site will be "flagged" as being "seo'ed". I think it's a bit paranoid, but raises the question of how google views "non-natural" links... i.e. anything that isn't randomly given by someone who doesn't know you.

[lisa]

hey Lisa,
You're making me hungry! Where can I get these sugar cookies???
I think the blog post I read wasn't about leaving a "spammy" signature but was just about being involved in SEO. It's the thing about natural vs "artificial" links, and if you are on a seo forum, your site will be "flagged" as being "seo'ed". I think it's a bit paranoid, but raises the question of how google views "non-natural" links... i.e. anything that isn't randomly given by someone who doesn't know you.

LOL! I could use a few sugar cookies myself. Yes, I don't think there's anything wrong with using SEO forums as long as you "use responsibly" (as the commercials say). Just posting a normal link to your site is not going to get you into any trouble.

[nanokaj]

If a normal signature link hurts your site, all SEO forums might be lonesome places by now.

[master-displays]

hi nanokaj,
You raise a very good point. And based on the welcome I got on my other thread, this is not a lonely place! Thanks. Steve, aka Master Displays, aka the Master of Trade Show Displays!

[surprisesaver]

where did that come from
in SEO forums , u can learn alot and communciate with others ---helping others and be helped , so it is really cool

[Niche]

Forum signatures are really valuable in search engine optimization and NO they do not hurt your rankings

Having said that you must keep in mind that not all forums do follow in their links, in fact a large proportion use the no follow attribute

I would advice that in participating in forums, the primary focus should be networking and sharing information. Any traffic or PR juice you may get from your signature is a bonus

[mrandrei]

No, posting in SEO forums won't harm your ranking. In fact, forum posting is a good, ethical way to build quality one-way links. You can benefit a lot from it. Just remember to use the right anchor texts.

[genie.liam]

It will not harm your site as long as you stick with the topic and you don't spam..